Various sites, groups, blogs, and message-posts on the web have borne the name, Urutsk, in some fashion since about 2000.
Hundreds of posts on the subject were created on a Yahoo! Club that was ungracefully transformed into a Group, with the subsequent loss of all formatting. That knocked the wind out of my sails for a good while. It still remains as of today's date, but once recorded into some sort of archive file, will likely be put out of its misery.
While a novel has been published within The Grand Tapestry, featuring characters from Urutsk and its general milieu, the ambitious work of chronicling the entire four arcs from first Spring through to Winter, will, in all likelihood, never be completed. It is simply too large a scope in its seven thousand years of history.
That is not to say that in many ways, and through different media, the setting's rich background and detailed cultures and characters won't receive their due. Instead, I find it both good and necessary to use a multi-disciplinary palate to paint this vision, and many needles threaded with different hues to create The Grand Tapestry.
As regards fiction:
- I have compiled my completed works into an unofficial .pdf release which a few friends have in their possession, and after editing and revision, I intend to release the volume via a POD service, likely LuLu if they are still solvent at the time.
- I am currently writing the Urutsk: Worlds of Mystery RPG in the Old School style which spawned it. As a great admirer of many of the current Simulacra and Clones of early-edition RPGs, and a devotee of particular and still extant games such as Ken St. Andre's Tunnels & Trolls, and Professor Barker's Tekumel (among others), I am making every effort to blend my particular mechanics-vision with the sensibilities of the old games. Likewise, I intend to publish via LuLu, as part of the Old School Renaissance movement.
I thank you for reading,
-Timeshadows
Welcome aboard!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Scott.
ReplyDeleteHi, I'm a fellow BFRPG fan and saw your post on Dragonsfoot about this blog. It's very well written and informative, but for one thing. You really didn't say much about what the Urutsk Cycle is before you started talking about it. Is this a world you created, a spin off from someone else's work (ie, fan art on steroids), a world created by the users of the yahoo club you mentioned or something else entirely? I know this will probably be old news for many of the people who will come to this blog, but how about throwing us newbies some background information.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I think its very cool that you are creating an RPG for your world. I wrote a fantasy novel for my daughters some time back and we often think about role playing in its world. I don't plan to write a whole new system since I basically wrote the thing with my D&D basic/expert rule set by my side, but I will need to add a few character classes or edit the existing ones. Your efforts here just might inspire me to get this done.
HywayWolf,
ReplyDeleteI am embarrassed to acknowledge the fact that I have completely glossed-over the setting information in these early posts. It is old-news to me, but ('duh' on me) yes, of course, I must inform others of the setting.
Thanks for following the blog, and for your input on the Dragonsfoot thread. :)
I will endeavour to post some concise and cogent background information, today.
Urutsk is a world/milieu I have developed from its nascent and crude origins while I was still a misfit in middle-school. From those early days of imagining it in a specific era, and with themes that were so important to me at that stage in my life, it has grown to encompass an entire galactic civilisation, and seven millennia of history, as well as uncounted alternate timelines and pocket universes.
My first published novel involves characters, places, and things from the setting, although not directly about Urutsk, per se.
Since then, I have written other tales to be gathered in collections, which touch upon different aspects of the same four-arc story.
Thanks for reminding me to rig the horses in front of the cart. :D
"BTW, I think its very cool that you are creating an RPG for your world. I wrote a fantasy novel for my daughters some time back and we often think about role playing in its world. I don't plan to write a whole new system since I basically wrote the thing with my D&D basic/expert rule set by my side, but I will need to add a few character classes or edit the existing ones. Your efforts here just might inspire me to get this done."
ReplyDeleteThat is wonderful to read. :)
I look forward to seeing that released someday (soon?)
I doubt I will be creating an adventure anytime soon. There are way too many existing ones to play before we will need a new world :)
ReplyDelete"but I will need to add a few character classes or edit the existing ones. Your efforts here just might inspire me to get this done."
ReplyDeleteHmm. Now you have me confused.
In any case, you sound like a nifty dad. :)
I guess what I mean is that I want to create an adventure module based on my novel, but I haven't played enough recently to feel comfortable about creating a playable publishable world. Other than DMing some BFRPG for my kids and sitting in on a one-shot 4e game, I haven't played D&D since the 80's. On the other hand, I am cursed with a spontaneous streak and may start designing it out of the blue on some long boring rainy weekend.
ReplyDeleteOK, well, I still wish you well, and remember:
ReplyDelete"D&D never forgets." :D
Feel free to comment on the other, more recent posts, too. ;)
@ Orion: Thanks. I'm with you on that practise. :)
ReplyDeleteThis game definetly seem's interesting, I stumbled here when searching for material of sciense fantasy and planetary romance genres.
ReplyDeleteWow. This place has some long seasons, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteYes, roughly 1,750 years each season. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting.
You're welcome! I've been trying to find my way back for a while but I couldn't remember the name of your blog.
ReplyDelete